Hamas Celebrates Agreement Signing With Execution--Without Abbas's Approval

Fatah and Hams finally ironed out seating arrangements for the signing--and it only took 2 hours:

In a sign of the ongoing tensions, Wednesday's ceremony in Cairo — where the interim Egyptian government brokered the deal — was delayed for two hours because of a last-minute spat over whether Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal would be seated on the podium with Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas and permitted to address guests.

How long do you think it took them to agree on the order of the flags?

That was not the only sign that things were not going smoothly--Hamas celebrated the unity agreement by executing a man without asking Abbas for approval:

Gaza's Islamist-run government executed a man convicted of collaborating with Israel on Wednesday, the Hamas interior ministry said, openly defying the Palestinian president just hours ahead of a reconciliation move.

...Under Palestinian law, executions should be carried out only with presidential approval, but Hamas ignored this.

According to the LA Times article quoted above:

Fatah leaders say it doesn't matter if Hamas fails to recognize Israel as long as the new government does, but it remains to be seen whether such a position will be acceptable to the U.S. and other nations.

Already, Fatah if making excuses for Hamas, drawing distinctions between what Hamas says and what statements the "new government" will be able to cobble together.

Of course, if past experience is any guide, they can just keep on making statements in English--and say what they really think in Arabic.

At least as long as they don't say what Fatah and Hamas really think of each other.

Technorati Tag: Fatah and Hamas.